Health Concerns Escalate as Photos of Stranded Boeing Astronauts Surface (3/20)

“I think what I can discern by her face and her cheeks being sunken in is that [she] has probably been at a significant [calorie] deficit for a while,” she added.

Astronauts burn approximately 3,500 calories per day, which is double that of an average person on land. This is due to the extra energy required by space’s harsher conditions and lower temperatures.

The doctor further shared that a main health concern in this case was muscle atrophy.

“They’re intaking very high-calorie foods, as you can tell — cold cuts, and, you know, other meats, the proteins, but high-fat cold cuts — it’s not necessarily a balanced diet,” Gupta said.